The Unsurpassed Maiden

"What do you mean?" Lady Ning Gwang asks. "Are you sure of what you've heard?"

The black haired girl nodded her head at her teacher. "Uhn. It scared me at first because I didn't know what it was talking about and I couldn't understand a single thing it was saying. However, as I kept on having the same dreams over and over again, I got used to it and ignored the voice. Then one time my dream suddenly changed."

"What…happened?" Teacher Hwang asks, voice only a whisper.

"It started calling me maiden. It's as if it's referring to me as the maiden in the prophecy." Mi Young explains. She can still remember every single word said to her by the voice in her dreams. She thinks she will never forget each word as well as the feeling that came to her every time the voice spoke to her. "After that, it kept on making me see images of events that I don't know of and have never seen before. But what made me think is why those images were like real events that were seen through my very own eyes."

"It may be showing you a glimpse of the future." Teacher Zhong says while looking at the young student calmly, very different from teacher Hwang's reaction when Mi Young mentioned a prophecy. "Tell me, did it told you about the prophecy?"

"Uhn. I can still remember each word. I can write it down if you want." Mi Young says. Her two teachers looked at each other before they nodded their heads together.

Then, teacher Zhong instructs Mi Young to write it down while Lady Ning Gwang sits on her seat with a tense body.

The three of them were silent, only the scribbling of Mi Young's pen against the paper can be heard as she continued jotting down the prophecy word by word.

When she was finally finished, Mi Young handed the paper back to her teacher Zhong who took it right away. Lady Ning Gwang scooted closer towards the other teacher to also read what the young girl wrote.

After reading it for a couple of times, both the teachers looked at Mi Young with wide eyes.

"What's wrong? Why are you both looking at me like that? Am I in trouble?" The young girl asks. She can already feel her heart thumping like crazy against her chest with how nervous she was getting just from the looks of her two teachers.

"Are you sure that this prophecy is talking about you?" Teacher Zhong asks. Mi Young notices the small gulp he made after asking her that question. When the young girl nodded her head in affirmation, Lady Ning Gwang abruptly stood up and started pacing back and forth around the living room.

"Why? What is happening?" Mi Young asks, panicking as she watches her usually composed and serious looking teacher Ning Gwang with a worried expression written all over her face.

"Ning Gwang, calm down. You're scaring the child!" Zhong Yu scolds the panicking teacher who immediately stopped pacing upon hearing the other teacher's voice. She then looks at Mi Young who has a panicked look on her face, and immediately regrets her actions.

Lady Ning Gwang rushed to her student's side as she tried to comfort and calm her as well. "I'm sorry, Mi Young. I just really have a hard time processing and accepting prophecies."

"Then it's not about me?" Mi Young questions, voice sounding so fragile it breaks her teacher's heart just hearing it.

"No. I'm sorry." Lady Ning Gwang says as she hugs her student. After a few seconds, she detaches herself from her student as she holds both her shoulders using her hands. "I grew up in a family that are all descendants of the first Oracles."

"Oracles?"

"Uhn. They are the powerful beings which was mentioned by Brother Zhong earlier. The people who give prophecies." Teacher Ning Gwang starts to say. There was a longing and sad look in her eyes that didn't fit well with her doll-like face. Mi Young preferred seeing her teacher with her usual teasing or serious expression. "However, Oracles are not just beings who give prophecies. They are also the ones sought out by a lot of people who want their prophecies to be deciphered. In short, I grew up in a family where there are hundreds of people coming in front of our house every day who wants to know about their future or want to find out about the meaning behind the prophecies."

The white haired woman pauses for a moment before she continued her explanation. "I have gotten used to it; people getting angry, or crying, or jumping in joy the moment my mother and father tells them about their prophecy. But alas my days have come, and as the only daughter of the Hwang clan, I was task to do what they do the moment I reached my ripened age. At the age of fifteen, I started to have these visions. Randomly occurring to me any time of the day. Sometimes the visions come while I'm eating, training, or just doing anything. Sometimes while I'm asleep I would wake up after having weird nightmares but then I realized that they were all just prophecies as well. It made me sick to the core. I tried telling my parents that I don't like it; that I'm not ready for it. But they said that it was our destiny. And that it was our duty to give people their destiny. So I ran away and searched for a way to stop it."

There was regret in her voice but Mi Young can see that her teacher was happy just by looking at her eyes. With a soft voice, Mi Young asks, "What did you do?"

"I got rid of my vision." Lady Ning Gwang says. There was a small sad smile playing on her lips.

"How?"

"By making a pact with a witch." Lady Ning Gwang says.

"Witch?"

"Uhn." The teacher nodded. "I let her take my ability so I wouldn't get random visions anymore. And in exchange, she put a curse on me."

"What?" Mi Young freezes after hearing her teacher's words. She never expected someone as powerful and strong hearted as her teacher had a past like that. She also never saw it coming; her teacher being cursed. "What's your curse then?"

"I cannot marry anyone or even be in a relationship with them, or else they will suffer greatly. I can't even say that I love them." Teacher Ning Gwang says. She then looks at teacher Zhong with a sad smile. Mi Young expected the other teacher to look at them with a shy and red face while trying to deny it just like he always does when the white haired teacher flirts with him. However, looking at teacher Zhong's expression right now, all Mi Young can do is pity the other. Zhong Yu had a small sad smile on his face as well and his eyes were screaming his unsaid words.

"Why? Why did the witch give you that kind of curse?"

"Witches tend to know what you have most. Since I was a child, I was filled and showered with love by the people around me. Many suitors came to me as well because of my beauty. So the witch made sure that no matter how many people around me love me, I will never give them back the love they deserve." The beautiful teacher explains. Teacher Ning Gwang may be a jolly and a happy-go-lucky person but Mi Young never imagined her having this huge curse on her.

After that, Lady Ning Gwang squishes the young student's cheek before she says, "Enough about my past. Anyway, the reason why I got scared after hearing or reading your prophecy is because I was scared that my visions would go back. Sorry again for worrying you, darling."

"It's okay, teacher. Now, I fully understand your situation. Thank you for telling me your story." The black haired girl says while giving her teacher a grateful smile. The teacher only ruffled her hair.

"Are you two done with your heart to heart talk?" Teacher Zhong asks after the two has finally settled down. Lady Ning Gwang stuck her tongue out at the other teacher to which teacher Zhong only replied with an eye roll, but Mi Young noticed that there was a fond look on his eyes right after. Mi Young smiled at their bitter-sweet story.

After their small 'flirting', teacher Zhong went back to look at his student. "As I was saying, What are you going to do with the prophecy?"

"What do I have to do?" The girl asks, sounding confused.

"Well, after receiving their prophecy, people tend to seek out Oracles to help them, find out the meaning of the prophecy given to them."

"Aren't the Hwangs the only Oracles of our time? And they are all extinct, except for teacher Ning Gwang. So what am I going to do then?" Mi Young questions. She looks at her teachers expectantly, trying to seek out for their help.

Teacher Zhong looks at Lady Ning Gwang while the other teacher looks like she was in deep thought. Mi Young was about to ask them if she said something offensive but then the white haired lady suddenly speaks up, "Very well, I will help you talk to an Oracle."

"But I thought you don't have your ability anymore, teacher?"

"Who said I am the only Hwang left?" Teacher Ning Gwang says with a wink.

"So? There's another?"

"Mi Young, it's time for you to meet the fifth member of our group." Lady Ning Gwang says while getting up from her seat.. "My cousin, Hwang Shin Yu."